


Keep Your Enemies Closer

by mokuyoubi



Category: Slayers (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 02:04:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1101101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mokuyoubi/pseuds/mokuyoubi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zelgadis is travelling alone in search of the Claire Bible, when he runs into a familiar face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keep Your Enemies Closer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Opalsong](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Opalsong/gifts).



> If I'd had all the time in the world, this could have been an epic, but alas, that is not the case. Though I see this as the intro of a much larger (Xel/Zel) adventure, I hope it works as a stand-alone. It's been about a million years since I've watched the show, so please forgive any ooc or other issues. Hope you enjoy!

Things were quiet at night, when Zelgadis built camp. During the day, as he travelled and continued his never-ending search for the Claire Bible, he didn't often dwell on thoughts of his old companions. He concentrated his thoughts on searching out people to question, ancient tomes to scour, always looking for any clue to the book's whereabouts. His energy was spent on long days on the road and the occasional battles along the way.

When the sun was set, his skin slowly grew cold, the stored warmth from the sun seeped out into the night. He would sit close by the camp fire, it's crackling the only sound in the stillness, and his wiry hair would grow molten hot to the touch. He'd stare at the flame, and Zelgadis' thoughts wandered. He had time to dwell on those things in his past he'd rather forget. Thoughts of Rezo, and his parents, and the boy he'd been what seemed like a million years ago, when his skin had been pale and warm with blood, and his hair soft to the touch.

Zelgadis had never realised how he'd taken for granted the constant prattling of Lina and the others. Her brashness, Amelia's effervescent naivety, Gourry's rambling inanity. Then he'd been annoyed by it all, but these days he'd feel the foreign sensation of a smile stretching his lips whenever his thoughts wandered to them. Even memories of Martina's stuck-up attitude and Xelloss' manipulation left him feeling mostly fond.

It was better to travel alone. Lina had her own concerns, her own goals, and it wasn't fair of Zelgadis to drag her along on what she and other's saw as a fool's errand at this point. Always on a wild goose chase after folk tales corrupted by time. Lina had already gotten what she needed from the Claire Bible, and for all any of them knew, Xelloss had been lying when he'd said there were other entrances to its location. But Zelgadis wasn't ready to give up. He didn't even know how to. Thoughts of finding a cure consumed all else long ago.

Tonight Zelgadis was staying at a local inn for a change, thanks to rumours of a mysterious stranger in town. Apparently the stranger had made reference to a spell only found in the Bible, which was good enough to get Zelgadis' attention. The bartender told him the man came in every night at the same time, so Zelgadis sat at a table tucked into the corner, watching the crowd. It was a pleasant change of pace, and he could almost see Lina and Gourry here right now, eating and drinking everything in sight. The twitch in his mouth was melancholy and nostalgic.

Though he was lost in his thoughts, Zelgadis kept his attention on the door, and every time it opened, he perked up in anticipation. So far it had been more villagers gathering to drink and gossip. Zelgadis' gaze was drawn again and again to the time piece and just as the bartender said, when the clock ticked over to 11:15, the door opened. A gust of wind rippled through the room, making the fire flicker, and the volume in the room suddenly dropped.

The mysterious stranger entered, and Zelgadis felt his shoulders droop in defeat. It was all too familiar a face, lips grinning, eyes slitted, framed by shiny purple hair. Xelloss' surveyed the room, and when he noticed Zelgadis his smile grew even wider, if such a thing was possible. He cut through the tables and without greeting, or waiting for an invitation, he took the seat across from Zelgadis.

“You,” Zelgadis growled. “What are _you_ doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question, Mister Zelgadis,” Xelloss said, in that simpering, giggling voice that haunted Zelgadis' dreams.

If Xelloss was here, there was no chance of the Claire Bible being nearby; he wouldn't let Zelgadis so close to it. This was just another of the monster's red-herrings.

“You know what I'm doing already,” Zelgadis said. “I'm wasting my time, thanks to you.”

“Let me assure you, Zelgadis, if I wanted your attention, there are better ways I could go about getting it than luring you here.” His words were intended to get a rise, and Zelgadis refused to give him the satisfaction.

“Then why are you here?” Zelgadis asked again.

Xelloss glanced casually in the direction of the clock, and then at the door. “I was led to believe there would be a gentleman here this evening, with information in which I am interested,” he finally said, with a dismissive shrug of his shoulders. “But it seems like he's not going to show up tonight.”

Zelgadis narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“It was my understanding that he always arrives at the same time.”

“Wait a minute,” Zelgadis said. “You mean _you_ aren't the mysterious stranger.”

“Well,” Xelloss drawled, “I've been called many things.”

“Cut the crap, Xelloss. Why'd you show up at 11:15 if you aren't the one I've heard about.”

“So you _are_ here for the same man,” Xelloss said. 

Zelgadis silently cursed himself for giving that away. He leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. “It hardly matters now,” he said. “Like you said, he didn't show.”

Xelloss made a humming noise, finger tapping against his lips. He gave Zelgadis a surprisingly shrewd look, which meant he was being serious, for once. “We probably aren't the only ones who heard about him, or the information he has.”

“What are you getting at,” Zelgadis asked, but he was already starting to get the idea. 

There were monsters out there a lot worse than Xelloss, if only because he didn't know them or their intentions. That old adage about keeping your enemies close had always worked in the past where Xelloss was concerned. Who knew what another Mazoku might be up to, or what could happen if a man such as Zelgadis' grandfather were to get their hands on the Claire Bible. Xelloss would destroy it, and Zelgadis hated him for that, but he was a known quantity. If they were to work together for a time, Zelgadis could keep his eye on the monster, and when the time was right, perhaps he could gain the knowledge he needed. And anyway, knowing Xelloss like he did, even if Zelgadis were to take off on his own, the monster would be sure to follow.

“What do you think?” Xelloss asked, like he'd read Zelgadis' mind. “Looking to travel with a companion again?”

All those recent thoughts about Lina and Gourry and Amelia were making him nostalgic, but when he'd thought about being lonely on the road, when he occasionally wished that he hadn't left them, or he could find a new companion, he'd never considered travelling with Xelloss. Alone, no less. Another adage, that one about being careful what you wished for, flashed through Zelgadis' head. Xelloss quirked an amused, questioning brow at him, as if to say _well?_

“Just until we find this guy and find out what he knows,” Zelgadis said, jabbing at Xelloss' chest with a finger. “Then we go our separate ways.”

“Of course,” Xelloss said, too easily.

“I mean it!” Zelgadis snapped. He wasn't going to let the Bible be burnt out of his fingers again. “You try any funny stuff, and you'll be sorry for it.”

“I wouldn't dream of it,” Xelloss said, holding a hand to his chest in faux-sincerity.

“Alright,” Zelgadis said.

“Terrific,” Xelloss said, that grin back in place. He took a sip from a teacup that hadn't been there a moment ago. “In that case, I've also heard this man was seen coming and going from some nearby caves.”

Zelgadis felt annoyance rising up inside him. The man could have _led_ with that. “Then why are we still sitting around here? Let's go!”

Xelloss rose to his feet and made a grand, sweeping gesture with his staff towards the door. “After you, Mister Zelgadis.”

Zelgadis had a bad feeling about this.


End file.
